LONDON (AFP) ― As Prince William’s wife Catherine prepares to give birth to a new heir to the throne, she faces renewed comparisons with her late mother-in-law, Princess Diana, whom she never met.
The former Kate Middleton only met her prince four years after Diana’s untimely death, but William gave her his mother’s sapphire ring on their engagement, saying “it was right to put the two together.”
Despite the popularity of the young royals, Catherine, 31, has at times been compared unfavorably to the late princess, who seduced the public with her outspokenness and glamour.
One columnist even called her “Diana lite.”
Diana’s human touch made her a potent symbol; she was described as the “people’s princess” and said she wanted to be “queen of people’s hearts.”
Like her, Catherine, whose title is Duchess of Cambridge, pays informal visits to sick children and backs addiction charities; like Diana, she is a fashion trendsetter whose choices of dress often prompt a rush on stores.
But the duchess has so far opted for a far quieter public persona. When she issued a charity broadcast in April, celebrity magazine OK! ― exaggerating just a little ― urged readers to “hear Kate Middleton speak for the first time!”
Both women have endured one of the biggest challenges of being a modern royal: constant scrutiny from the press, including feverish speculation about possible pregnancies.
Kate’s circumspection in part reflects lessons the establishment learned from Diana’s life, and her death aged 36 in a high-speed Paris car crash, pursued by photographers.
The family are said to be determined to avoid any repeat of her very public struggles, which included a divorce from William’s father Prince Charles played out in the glare of the media.
But there is one part of Diana’s life the young couple are keen to emulate: her close relationship with her two children, defying royal tradition.
Diana’s former private secretary, Patrick Jephson, told AFP that she “certainly did break the mould in the sense that she took William on tour, she made sure that ... she was able to get home in time to put (her children) to bed.”
He recalled that “if we were overseas (she ensured) that she was able to get home in the right time zone to speak to them on the phone ...
“They were always with her in her heart wherever she was. And I daresay (with Catherine) it will be the same.”
Catherine will have her baby at St Mary’s hospital in London, where Diana had William in 1982, in what was then a radical choice not to give birth in a royal residence.
koreaherald@heraldcorp.com
